1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to beverage dispensers for dispensing post mix beverages. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a dispensing valve embodied as a tap, when operating dispenses one or more fluids, and, when there are at least two different fluids, the dispensing valve mixes them before the point of dispense.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional post mix dispense valves are large and require a unit to mount the valves, which can take additional space in a store. These valves are typically made from mostly plastic with a small overlay label showing the product that is being dispensed. This set up can be non-striking or lack luster when dispensing specialty/premium beverages alongside regular standard beverage products. They also generally require an electrically operated solenoid for each ingredient line to initiate flow. These solenoids generally create an undesirable noise during activation, further detracting from the appeal of the traditional design.
Traditional beer taps/faucets are noticeable to consumers in a store but they are mostly crew served application and mostly designed to dispense only one fluid at a time, and therefore are not designed for use with a typical bag-in-box post-mix system, which requires simultaneous dispensing of multiple flavors from a single dispense point. Traditional taps/faucets can be used for beverages having multiple flavors, but this requires premixing of the beverage before being dispensed. Pre-mixing occurs when the multiple flavors of the beverage are mixed prior to flowing into the traditional taps/faucets. Pre-mixing the beverage deteriorates the quality and performance of the beverage, e.g., loss of carbonation on dispense, excess foaming and loss of product through foaming. Accordingly, the user experience can also be negatively impacted.
Accordingly, there is a need to address these disadvantages of currently available systems.